Lunatic
by Ejes
Summary: They used to be best friends. And they were still so young. Even though the lack of heart meant he couldn't enjoy it for real, Axel still appreciated any time he could get to spend with Saïx - especially on this special day.


_**Here comes a brand new one shot! It was written a while ago (some time in May), but I did** **n't have tome to post it any sooner~ Hope you will enjoy!**_  
 _ **Disclaimer: none of the characters mentionned in this fic belong to me. Which you probably knew already, but meh.**_

* * *

They were just kids, Axel repeated to himself. Just kids. They never asked for any of this. It wasn't even that their lives were bad: he didn't have much to complain about. Since they lost their heart, nothing really mattered to them anyway, and Axel never used to make a fuss for anything when he still had a heart either.

But everytime he looked at Zexion, he still believed that there was something wrong. The kid was only eight, and he was a zombie, never a smile crossing his face. And what about him? He was only sixteen. Kids this age were supposed to hang out all day long, rebel against their parents, something like that. He spent most of his days exploring worlds and releasing dark creatures on them - _Heartless_ \- because that was apparently how they would get their heart back. That made no sense, but he did not question it much.

As he walked out of his room, he decided to pay Saïx a visit - the teenager used to be his best friend. Were they still besties? Axel didn't know, but that did not matter. As long as they still got along, he didn't care about giving a name to that.

He pounded on the door seven times - his old secret signal, back to when they had a heart. The only answer he got was "Go away". He took that as a "Come in", and pushed the door.

The room was a mess. This was surprising, because they didn't even own enough things to make a mess, and yet Saïx had succeeded in the impossible. Upon further investigations, Axel discovered that it wasn't only that anything that had once been in the furnitures was scattered across the floor - even the furnitures were scattered across the floor, shredded into tiny wooden pieces. The mattress was ripped, clouds of white foam still flying around. And in the middle of this whole white mess, Saïx was sitting on the floor, arms around his knees, missing one glove, his eyes looking incredibly tired. Otherwise, he looked pretty neutral, as if this was a completely casual scene. Axel whistled.

"You did that on your own? Wait, you did that and no one heard you?"

Saïx shrugged, silent. He didn't even look at Axel. He didn't look at anything. Axel walked to him - sitting right next to him.

"Didn't like the decoration?" Silence. "We could ask for some coloured furnitures, I guess." Silence. "You didn't hurt yourself, I hope." Silence. "If you don't answer to that you'll owe me 1000 munnies." Silence. Then, after a couple of seconds, the tiniest hint of smile appeared on Saïx's lips. "...Never."

Axel punched his shoulder playfully. "He talks! Now tell me. What happened?"

Saïx finally moved, his eyes scanning the room. "Do you ever wonder what we're really doing?"

"All the time. But I learnt not to ask. Do you?"

Saïx shrugged. "I trusted Xemnas. And I still do. But after all this time… There is just no result. Nothing is changing. We still have no heart. The worlds are in an even worse state. What's the point? What if we cannot be saved?"

To that, Axel had no answer. He shared Saïx's doubts - and he did not share his trust for Xemnas. He sighed. "Let me tell you something, though. I'm pretty sure our hearts aren't hidden in our closets. So there's no point in destroying them to look for it."

Saïx rolled his eyes, but his tiny smile was getting slightly bigger. "You never take anything seriously, now, do you?"

"Never. That's my motto. Life's a joke, and I want to keep laughing 'till the end. Got it memorized?"

"I'll do my best to keep that in mind. I'll be laughing on your grave."

Axel jumped on his feet, stretching his hand out for Saïx. "And I'll be laughing in my grave. Come with me. No work today. I'll change your mind." Saïx took his hand without even thinking about it. Axel flashed him a grin, opening up a portal, his mind already set up on where they'd be going.

"What is this place?" Saïx looked around, stepping in this town for the first time. Axel shrugged, relaxed.

"Discovered this place while exploring, a couple of weeks ago. It's called Twilight Town. It looks even more beautiful at sunset, but even in day time, it looks great, don't you think?"

Saïx didn't answer. Beauty wasn't something they could identify anymore. If anything, they remembered what they thought was beautiful or not and apply it to what they saw.

"It's quite a funny town. There are tons of underground roads leading everywhere, it's a maze down there. There's also this creepy mansion over there, but I don't know how to access it, a wall's blocking the way. And, uh, they've got a game called Struggle, we should definitely try that one day! Also you can take the train for a quieter place, that's really peaceful out there. Anything you want to do?

Saïx looked around. The town was pretty quiet, a tram circling around the place without a sound. There were a few shops here and there, with shopkeepers cheerfully talking to one another. He pointed at a shop. "There."

Axel looked at the designated place and frowned. "You sure? That place looks fishy. But well, alright then! Let's have a look!"

The shop was selling ice-cream. Not any kind, though. Not several kinds, either. Only one flavour, making Axel grimace. "Sea salt, though? Are you _really_ sure about that?"

Saïx gave him a crooked smile. "Scared?"

"Never!" Axel's pride was wounded. "Hey, Ma'am, we'll have two of these. You'll see if I'm scared!"

Still, the ice-cream in hand, he was looking at it with caution. Saïx sighed. "It will melt, you know."

"Oh, I know how ice-creams work, thank you very much! I was only… Only thinking of a good place to enjoy it. You know, somewhere nice."

Saïx looked around, until his eyes stopped on the clocktower. "Up there." Axel looked like he enjoyed the idea, and they soon were up the clocktower (with the help of a portal). The view really was something. If Saïx tried to remember what _beautiful_ used to mean to him, that would be a good definition.

"Let's try that, then… Cheers!" Axel carefully poked the icecream with the tip of his tongue, frowned, then gasped. "It's… It's actually pretty good! Sweet and Salty! Just like us! I'm the sweet one, by the way." He laughed, and even Saïx let a chuckle out. The place was quiet. The view was nice. And it was true that the ice-cream tasted really good.

"You really went berserk this morning, didn't you?"

"I guess I did. I woke up and realised I felt so helpless. That ticked me off."

"Ticked you off? Saïx, you shred your bed to _pieces_. Remind me to never _tick you off_."

"What would be the point? You'd do it anyway."

They laughed, and finished their ice-cream in silence. It had been a while since they got some time together, just the two of them. Life was mostly doing their missions, reporting back, going to sleep. The eight of them were always busy. They probably had missions waiting for them, even today, but Axel had decided they would have to wait.

"I'm glad we still get to hang out together sometimes", Axel said out of the blue, echoing Saïx's thoughts. "Especially today."

"Is today a specific day?"

"Of course it is, dum-dum! Don't tell me you forgot? Oh my you forgot. Care to guess?"

But after a minute of Saïx complete silence, Axel gave up. "Happy seventeenth birthday, buddy!"

So it was his birthday? Saïx had indeed completely forgotten. When you were living between worlds, time had little meaning to you. Hard to keep a calendar up to date. Axel could pretty much have made that up, too. But the redhead still rummaged through his pockets, until he got a small paper-wrapped packet out.

"There you go! Open it, come on!"

Saïx carefully unwrapped a small box. He opened it. Two golden stud earrings shimmered in the box. Axel sniggered.

"The shopkeeper told me I would make the lady I'd give that to really happy. Told her I had one lucky girlfriend. Here you are, darling."

But despite the joke, Saïx actually liked them, and he knew Axel had picked them seriously, and he did not wait to put them on.

"They look good. Really compliments the… Pointy ears. You know."

Axel's laugh sounded slightly bitter. They both had noticed how Saïx was starting to change - and how Axel was not. They never addressed it. They both did their best not to think about it.

"Sometimes, I just suddenly feel incredibly angry." Saïx said quietly. "Most of the times, I'm really calm, not thinking about anything in particular. Focusing on the missions. And I suddenly feel so much rage… I feel like I want to destroy everything. I can't explain why. Maybe you're the cool-head, and I'm the hot-head, after all."

Axel smiled, nudging him. "Yeah, I've always been the cool kid. Maybe you just needed a break from work. I'm sure today will help."

"You might be right."

They watched the town quietly, their feet dangling on the edge. A minute passed, ten, then an hour, before Axel finally spoke again.

"Hey, Saïx? Do you really think we'll ever get our hearts back?"

"Yes. Xemnas said we would. So we will."

Axel chuckled and got back to his feet.

"Then we'd better go back to work, buddy. Can't wait for you to have your heart back, so I can break it."

"Look who's talking. Yours would probably forget how to beat and you'd die within a minute."

"Well, you'd better learn CPR, then."

"I'd better work on your eulogy instead."

They exchanged a smile, opening up a dark corridor. Saïx gave a last glance at the town. He felt less and less like himself, lately. But it was alright. Xemnas would save them, and then he would come back to share another ice-cream with best friend.

* * *

 ** _I like to believe that Saïx wasn't that cold guy we know from the very beginning - that instead Xemnas's influence grew bigger and bigger every day, and that Saïx slowly turned into a Nort. I wonder if we'll get to see him with silver hair in KH3?_**

 ** _While I don't really like Saïx, I really liked Isa, so I hope there's a way we can save him somehow! I also reaaaaally want to know how Lea and Isa lost their heart in the first place. Exactly still 7 months to wait!_**


End file.
